


Losers, Lovers

by elegia (starcrawler)



Series: It Gets Stranger [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Ben and Bill Cold War, Beverly Being Jelly, F/M, Hormones, Support Team Richie and Eddie, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-14 04:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20594354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starcrawler/pseuds/elegia
Summary: When Bill had the audacity to speak to that two-faced skank, Beverly knew she had to make it even.





	Losers, Lovers

**Author's Note:**

> Some high school drama. Barely mentions It or anything imaginary at all.

“Big man, pig man. Ha, ha, charade you are.”

\- Pink Floyd, _ Animals _

_ Derry, January 1991_

“Hey, Big Bill, how fucked-up were your parents after the party?” Richie Tozier asked.

The Losers sat together at a lunch table at Derry High. Stan poked at his lunch unenthusiastically, Beverly was reading a book, and Ben watched Richie with narrowed eyes.

Bill shrugged. “I d-d-dunno. I was as-s-s-sleep.”

“You could hear my parents getting it on from their room,” said Richie, fake-retching. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“Why not? Were you too busy jerking yourself off listening to them?” Eddie laughed at his own joke.

“I was thinking about someone else’s parents while I was doing it last night, Eds.” Richie winked at Eddie, who sighed.

“Gentlemen, can we not go through this today?” Ben pleaded.

“No suh, Missuh Haystack suh. Dis cracka about to get it!” Richie pushed out his bottom lip dramatically while speaking.

“Beep beep,” Ben groaned and went back to staring at his food with distaste.

“Y’know he thrives on an audience, Ben,” said Beverly without looking up from her book.

Ben immediately turned red. “Uh, yeah. Yeah. I know that.” He turned to meet Bill’s hard gaze with his own.

“So, um, what are you reading?” Ben asked, leaning his elbow against the table and causing his fork to fly up and hit Stan on the head.

“I’m reading Bill’s book. He asked me to look for mistakes and stuff,” she said, and Ben’s entire world collapsed around him as he whipped around to glare at Bill, who smirked in a very self-satisfied sort of way.

“A-And how is it?” Ben asked haltingly.

“Oh, it’s pretty good. I honestly think this writing thing’s gonna work for you, Bill.”

“Th-Thanks, Bev.”

“But God these chapter endings suck.”

Bill sighed. “Yeah, I guh-got that from s-Sarah, t-too.”

Beverly’s head suddenly shot up from behind the book, startling both of the suitors and Stan, who watched as one would watch a football game.

“Sarah James’s seen your book?” she asked, suddenly casual, with only the lightest crease between her brows betraying her displeasure.

“Yuh-Yeah. S-She o-offered. I nuh-need to ask for a luh-lot of uh-opinions,” said Bill cautiously. He could tell something was wrong but he had no idea what.

“And my opinion’s just one of them? Like Sarah James’s?”

Bill nodded nervously.

“Well my opinion is that your book is shit, Bill.” And with that she got up and stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving the book behind.

Bill and Ben, suddenly in a truce, looked at each other with confusion as Stan snorted with laughter from across the table.

“Th-Th-The fuck?”

“O beware, bitch, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster, which doth beat the meat it gyrates on,” said Richie wisely from the other side, where he and Eddie had witnessed the entire scene with glee.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t go like that,” said Stan.

“Tomato, tomato. Bill, you’ve got the worst case I’ve seen in years!”

“Oh duh-doctor, wh-what is it?!”

“You’ve got a ho who’s jelly.”

“Bev’s not a ho, Richie. And she’s not _ jelly_,” said Ben angrily.

Richie softened visibly. “Look, Ben. I think you just gotta let this go. She likes Bill-”

_ “Sh-She duh-does?!” _

“Sure she does, Bill. Haystack, you gotta understand that sometimes, no matter how nice you are, no matter how good you treat her, she won’t like you the way you want,” said Richie.

“That’s not true!” Ben yelled. He got up and followed Beverly’s angry trail.

“Good God, you guys are a riot,” Richie remarked after a brief pause.

“S-S-So sh-she like muh-me?” Bill asked excitedly.

“Oh, yeah. She’s got the major hots for you. You just have to stop being such a pussy all the time.”

“Yeah, yuh-yeah. I got th-this. I cuh-can do it.”

And with that Bill got up and ran off in the direction Ben went.

“He’s gonna ask her out right now, huh?” Eddie asked knowingly.

“Probably. As long as Bill doesn’t come crying to me, I’ll be looking forward to this,” said Richie, taking a bite of Eddie’s cafeteria food without his consent and spitting it out in an instant.

“Hey, Bev, you wanna come to my party this weekend?” asked an oblivious Kevin Fitzgerald.

“Get out of my way,” Beverly growled.

“Woah, okay, relax,” said Fitzgerald, backing up. _ “It’s okay, guys, I think it’s just PMS,” _he whispered audibly to his friends, who guffawed stupidly as they walked away.

Beverly grit her teeth angrily as she began to swing the combination to her locker. Every time she ought to have switched directions, she missed the target number by a rather large margin due to her distracted brain, angering her further.

Bill, somehow oblivious to her rather large amounts of dissatisfaction towards him, almost glided up behind the locker door she had just managed to open.

“Hey buh-Bev,” he said nervously, deciding at that moment to throw away the plan that had been manifesting in his brain for his entire walk to her locker and to just wing it.

“What?” she asked shortly.

“Luh-Listen, I, uh, I r-r-really like yuh-you-” Bill began.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Beverly asked angrily.

“Wuh-What?” Bill had been expecting a myriad of reactions, the best one being her falling into his arms and them sharing the most breathtaking kiss in the world, and the worst being her laughing right in his face. Relief or contempt, sure. He was not expecting anger, though.

“What, you think it’s funny to fuck with me like that? You ask me to read your book, and then you tell me Sarah James read your book, too? You know how I feel about that two-faced bitch, and you still let her read your book. What the fuck? And now you’re telling me all this shit?!”

Bill had no idea how to respond to all that. He was still in the process of understanding everything she had spewed loudly, which had generated a large crowd, in which stood, among others, Sarah James.

“Two-faced bitch, huh?” she asked challengingly.

Beverly closed her eyes and groaned as she turned to face James. “Oh, goddammit. Yes, Sarah, I think you’re a piece of shit.”

James smiled with saccharin sweetness. “Oh, sweetie. I know how you’re feeling. It's okay.”

Beverly lifted her nose into the air with feigned indifference, the first time she’d done something so incredibly “feminine” in front of Bill, who suddenly felt uncomfortably aroused.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said haughtily.

“Okay, jelly girl. C’mon ladies.” With that, James left with her posse and the rest of the crowd that had gathered to watch the catfight.

“So, um, wh-what are y-y-you mad uh-about?” Bill asked awkwardly.

“Bill, just go away,” said Beverly miserably, as she swung the locker shut and ran to the girls’ restroom.

Richie sighed as he ran a soothing hand through Bill’s hair as he lay completely across the Toziers’ only couch.

“And th-th-then s-she juh-just r-ran away,” Bill said desperately. “What d-did I do ruh-wrong?”

“Look, Bill. I get you’re pretty new to this. I’m telling you: a girl’s got tells. You gotta learn them, y’know? She was pissed ‘cause she felt like you liked that skank more than her,” said Richie tiredly.

“Why?”

“Why? ‘Cause she was jealous, duh! She likes you and you like her, but neither of you guys know! She thinks you only like her like a friend, and that’s it. That’s your guys’ problem. You’re both cowards.”

Just as Richie finished his sentence, Eddie and Mike Hanlon entered, looking as if their mothers had just died, each holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Um, what are those for?” Richie asked. Bill watched curiously as well.

“Our condolences, for a wounded soldier,” said Eddie solemnly. He and Mike offered their flowers to Bill, who accepted them.

“Th-Thanks guh-guys. I-It’s nuh-not that b-bad, though,” said Bill gratefully.

“Oh, good,” said Mike, grinning now. “From what I heard Bev was real pissed. Like, had-a-showdown-in-the-hallways pissed.”

“No, she was,” said Richie calmly. “I’m just getting Bill to stop acting like a complete retard around her all the time.”

“Okay, s-s-so what d-do I do?” Bill asked.

“Lucky for you,” said Richie, “you are surrounded by the three biggest chick magnets in the world. We’ll get her back.”

Bill’s eyes lit up with hope.

While Bill and his friends spoke of redemption, Ben thought he finally found his chance.

He rang the doorbell to Beverly’s new home.

Martha, Beverly’s adoptive mother, though more grandmother, answered. “Oh, hello, Ben! Come on in!”

While Martha was extraordinarily kind, and all the boys liked her, Ben felt that she talked _ way _too much.

“I knew it was boy troubles. I just knew it,” she said knowingly. “God, they get more angsty every year, eh?”

“Ha, ha, yeah. Thanks again, Mrs. Stevens,” he said awkwardly.

“Okay, I’ll leave you two to it,” said Martha eagerly, and she left with a flourish.

Ben shook his head, and knocked on the door to Beverly’s room.

“Come in.”

Ben opened the door carefully, immediately noting Beverly lying haphazardly on her bed.

“You okay?” he asked cautiously.

“I guess. Did you hear about what happened?” Beverly asked tonelessly.

“Yeah.”

“God, I’m such a dweeb. Now I probably just made him mad. Do you think he really likes me?” Beverly said.

“Um.”

_ -c’mon Ben, don’t shoot yourself in the foot _

_ But I don’t want to hurt her! _

_ -well she’s gonna get hurt either way ‘cause it’s not you she’s with, so get on with it you moron! _

“I dunno,” he lied. Ben chose the least-destructive route, but Beverly’s face fell all the same, immediately making Ben regret his choice.

“I knew it. Oh, I knew it was stupid of me to fall in love with him,” she sighed. Ben’s heart sank.

_ -God, why the hell are you here? _

“I mean, I just don’t know. Y’know, maybe,” Ben offered.

_ -…and the bullet’s exited through the sole _

Beverly suddenly sat up, a feverish light in her eyes.

“I got it!” she cried. Ben jumped.

“What?”

“Ben, can I ask you a favor?”

“Shoot.”

“Well, y’know how I’ve been acting all jealous?”

“Jelly.”

“What?”

“You were jelly. That's what the kids are calling it.”

Beverly rolled her eyes. “Sure, I was ‘jelly.’”

“Okay, yeah. Go on.”

“I need to make Bill jealous.”

There was a pause. Ben’s slightly political mind worked at ludicrous speed. “And where do I fall into this?”

“I need you to pretend we’re dating.”

_ -ooh, right in the gut _

Ben sighed, his heart feeling like a smashed lightbulb. “Bev, I’m not helping you lie to Bill so you get your way.”

“Please, Ben? It would mean so much to me. You want me to be happy, right?”

_ -oh God, why is she so cute? _

“Okay, fine.”

_ -wait, what the fuck? _

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” Beverly threw her arms around him, causing his heart to pound rapidly, despite him knowing better.

_ -no, stop. abort _

“Tomorrow,” said Beverly grandly, “We’re gonna be boyfriend and girlfriend!”

“You got everything you need, Bill?” Eddie asked anxiously.

“Yuh-Yup,” said Bill, trying to hide his nerves.

“Oh, he grows up so fast,” said Richie, sobbing. Eddie hit him on the back of the head.

“Ow!”

Students at Derry High glanced curiously at Bill as he stood surrounded by two large stereo speakers. He picked up the microphone from its stand and waited for Beverly to show.

“Are you ready?” Beverly asked excitedly.

“Yeah, so ready,” said Ben glumly.

“Alright, let’s go. One…two…three!”

She pushed through the front doors of the school.

“She’s here!” Eddie shouted, running into the front chamber of the school.

Richie hurriedly pressed “play” on the shoebox, and the karaoke version of Andy William’s “Where Do I Begin” began to play through the speakers.

All three boys immediately realized that there was a problem: the speakers were Richie’s dad’s, who hadn’t used them in a while, and their maximum volume was about as loud as a single conversation.

“This isn’t working!” Richie hissed to Bill, who looked like he could puke. More students gathered around to see what the commotion was about.

Beverly was distracted. Very distracted. “Okay, I see him.”

What she did not see were the speakers surrounding Bill, or that Richie and Eddie stood beside him like agents at a concert.

“Time to follow through with the plan.”

She could feel Bill’s eyes burning holes into her, and she smirked. _ We’ll see how you like it, asshole. _

She turned and kissed Ben on the lips, who seized up, surprised, despite having gone over this plan over fifty times. Then he began to kiss back enthusiastically, rather too enthusiastically.

_ Okay. Okay, Ben. Remember, this is just a demonstration. We don’t have to give Oscar-winning performances. _

Once the tongue came into question and she felt sufficiently uncomfortable, she pulled away from Ben, who looked like he’d just died and gone to heaven.

She turned to the other boys, hoping Bill would be storming over or doing something even sexier. Instead, she saw Bill, Eddie, and Richie all standing in a line in front of—were those speakers? And did she hear Andy Williams?—all looking shell-shocked, and Bill looking rather devastated.

“C’mon, Bill,” Richie muttered, as gravely as he would at a funeral. “Let’s get you a Band-Aid.”

He dragged a near-comatose Bill away by the arm, leaving Eddie to deal with the speakers.

“Did it work?” Ben asked once he finally came back to Earth.

“I think so,” said Beverly. But why did she feel so hollow?

“Dude, what the fuck?!” Eddie yelled.

“I don’t know!” Richie yelled back, his hands pulling on chunks of his hair, as he paced back and forth in the empty boys’ locker room. “I thought this would work! I really did!”

“Well it didn’t, Einstein!”

“Well fuck me! It failed ‘cause the speakers were fucked!”

Bill sat on a bench, having not reacted at all the entire duration of their shouting match. He just stared at the wall blankly, feeling his heart shattering again and again.

“And what the _ fuck_, Ben?!” Richie yelled.

“Yeah, what the fuck?!”

“Dude, I can't believe I got everything so wrong!”

“I know!”

“I guh-give up.”

Both Eddie and Richie stopped yelling and stared at Bill, who had just spoken for the first time in ten minutes.

“Wh-What?” Richie laughed nervously. “You can’t give up, man! You’re Big Bill! You and Bev were meant to be!”

“Yeah, Bill!”

“It’s o-over,” said Bill faintly but firmly. “S-She’s got her muh-man.”

“Bill. You can’t be serious-”

“As s-s-serious as a huh-heart attack, r-Richie. Thanks f-for lending muh-me y-your dad’s s-s-speaker. And th-thanks e-Eddie.”

And with that, Bill left the locker room listlessly, heading to his first class.

“Dude, we gotta get them back together,” said Richie once the door swung closed.

“Yeah.”

“And we gotta ask Bevvie what the fuck she was thinking.”

Bill sat in his economics class, his first class of the day. He unfortunately shared this class with Beverly and Ben. Usually, the three would sit together with just the slightest tension.

But today, Bill wanted to be as far away from the two as he could physically be, which meant sitting in the front of the room.

He could feel Beverly’s and Ben’s eyes boring holes into the back of his head, and he could imagine their whispers behind cupped hands, but he ignored them.

Mr. Lorensax entered the room as slowly as he always did, and as always, fourteen minutes after the bell. The entire class groaned audibly as their high hopes of leaving were shattered by just a minute.

“Okay, class. Where did we leave off last time?” he asked slowly.

Nobody answered, but it seemed as if Mr. Lorensax wasn’t expecting any raised hands, either.

“I believe it was on the concept of monetary policy. Hmm, let me see the page on my book so you can all follow along in your books.”

Again, this suggestion was futile, as nobody but Ben brought their books to class.

After about three minutes of shuffling around in his briefcase, in which his book lay quite plainly, Mr. Lorensax emerged with his binder.

“I almost forgot to take role. Weren’t you knuckleheads supposed to remind me? Ha, ha, ha.”

“Ha,” said Ben, “that’s real funny, Mr. Lore-ow!” Beverly had just hit him on the back of the head.

“Hmm. Rebecca Baron?” No answer. Everyone called her “Red Baron.” Richie called her “Pizza Girl.”

“Is there a Rebecca Baron? Baron?”

Bill rested his cheek against the palm of his hand, feeling exhausted. Maybe what he had just witnessed this morning was too scarring even for him, who had faced off It and survived. He knew it would be a while before Mr. Lorensax reached his name, despite “Denbrough” being only the third-highest name on the class roster.

He began to doze off, and his mind drifted to thoughts of a certain redhead.

_ “I don’t think it worked Ben,” _ Beverly whispered behind her cupped hand.

_ “What? Look how upset he is!” _Ben whispered back.

_ “I know. I feel bad. I think this was a dud.” _

Ben sat thoughtfully. He would’ve been lying had he said he didn’t enjoy that kiss, though he still felt it was more artificial than he would’ve liked. And though he and Bill had conflicting interests, he did still love him as a friend. A good friend, and a leader. He hated to see Bill, who already naturally had an air of sadness about him, being even more so.

He stared at the back of Bill’s head, which rested against his hand. The even rising and falling of his hunched back suggested he was dozing.

“I think you’re right,” said Ben quietly. Again, he was hurting himself and his chances, and he knew that, but he would’ve given the world to Beverly at any moment of his life since knowing her, and his happiness seemed a small price to pay for hers.

Beverly sighed. “I’ll go talk to him after class.”

“William Denbrough? Is William Denbrough here?”

Bill raised his hand without a sound.

“William?”

“Here.”

“Ah, there you are, William. Okay, Sandra Deutsch? Deutsch?”

“Bill, we need to talk,” said Beverly nervously as she intercepted Bill, who had tried to leave the room as quickly as possible the moment class had ended.

Bill turned slowly and sighed. “Bev, cuh-can this w-wait? I guh-gotta go.”

Beverly twisted her hands. “No, this can’t wait, Bill. Look, I-” _ I love you and I’d die for you oh my God please love me back Big Bill. _

But she said none of those things.

“I lied about your book. It was really good.”

_ Wait, what the fuck?! _

That managed to get a faint smile from Bill. “Th-Thanks, Bev. That muh-means a l-lot.”

_ No, no, no, c’mon, tell him! _

But she never did, and they soon parted with goodbyes, and Bill attended his next class. Business went along as usual. The Losers would laugh and fight and laugh again, hoping to shake off their past demons, and in Bill’s case, a certain ghost.

Stan would distance himself further, choosing rather to study in the library during lunch rather than eat with them. For that, Richie called him a “Jesus-killer.”

Bill and Beverly pretended they only had the ambition to just be friends, and it was Ben who took her to prom while Bill stayed at home and sulked.

But a certain meeting at a diner in Chicago eight years later would change everything.

**Author's Note:**

> After watching It: Chapter 2, and seeing my man Bill Denbrough getting fucked over like that, getting almost no good scenes, I knew I had to write something or I'd die of dissatisfaction.
> 
> Also, if you read the book, you know Ben and Beverly end up together. I was honestly never on board with that. She gets the boring-ass guy with the personality of a cardboard box? No way José, I'm not invested in that relationship. Seriously, Ben is as bland as they come; I don't know why so many people, Stephen King included, think he of all the Losers ought to get the only girl. And honestly, don't you think niceguys have gotten the girl enough times already? Feel free to debate me in the comments.
> 
> Bill and Beverly's relationship is so sweet; that sort of puppy love is just so pure. I can't get enough of it and I don't get why the fandom seems so against it. But it is what it is. If others can't satisfy my needs, then I'll have to just do it myself.


End file.
